(Original post by Phalanges)
I had the idea of running a box office prediction league on here. People would guess how much each new release was going to gross for the weekend, and then the person who guessed closest would get a point.

How about it? We'd need at least four or five people interested enough to do it every week to make it worthwhile, so let me know if you like the sound of it and if there's interest we'll give it a go.

Cool. Do you think we'd be better off doing US or UK? Obviously UK would be nicer, but it suffers from having much slower information about it (the US weekend actuals have been up for about a day, yet the latest info from the UK is still for the 16th). Really I think that US figures are probably the only way we can do it.

(Original post by Phalanges)
Cool. Do you think we'd be better off doing US or UK? Obviously UK would be nicer, but it suffers from having much slower information about it (the US weekend actuals have been up for about a day, yet the latest info from the UK is still for the 16th). Really I think that US figures are probably the only way we can do it.

If I'm honest, I'd find it harder to do US takings - but if that's the way you see is best, then I'm all for it

So what we going to do? New releases that week and predict if they get into the charts or not?

Pretty much. The idea is that for each new release (last week would have been Paranormal Activity 3, Johnny English, Three Musketeers, and then we can chuck in some indie oddball nobody will have a clue about) we predict how much money they'll make for the weekend, and the person closest gets a point for that week. So if I had said PA3 would do $20m and you said $60m, you have won that one.

I'll work on getting the thread up today.

(Original post by The Stig)
Only just found out that in the last episode of Entourage, after the credits rolled, there was more...

Must watch now! Don't know how I missed that!

I have a bad habit of watching through the credits when it's the final episode of the show. So I saw the Ari epilogue, but then was consumed by a panic that this might be a regular thing and I might have missed loads. Luckily it seems quite sporadic, although try and find the post-credits bit from the Matt Damon episode, it's awesome.

(Original post by Phalanges)
Pretty much. The idea is that for each new release (last week would have been Paranormal Activity 3, Johnny English, Three Musketeers, and then we can chuck in some indie oddball nobody will have a clue about) we predict how much money they'll make for the weekend, and the person closest gets a point for that week. So if I had said PA3 would do $20m and you said $60m, you have won that one.

AKA HBO are putatively taking on The Dark Tower before becoming intimidated by the size, scope and cost of the series and giving up like everyone else.

Although in fairness, given they greenlit and renewed Boardwalk Empire and Game of Thrones (lavish, expensive, story-driven dramas) they might be able to both afford it and do it justice. I don't know, though.

(Original post by Christien)
AKA HBO are putatively taking on The Dark Tower before becoming intimidated by the size, scope and cost of the series and giving up like everyone else.

Although in fairness, given they greenlit and renewed Boardwalk Empire and Game of Thrones (lavish, expensive, story-driven dramas) they might be able to both afford it and do it justice. I don't know, though.

I can't think of many other groups with the budget to do it any justice.

AMC have become incredibly stingy of late. Walking Dead got huge budget cuts and the negotiations for Mad Men became so protracted that it missed an entire year of production (). And Mad Men can't even be that expensive. You basically need to rent a floor of an office building and buy lots of cigarettes.

(Original post by Christien)
AMC have become incredibly stingy of late. Walking Dead got huge budget cuts and the negotiations for Mad Men became so protracted that it missed an entire year of production (). And Mad Men can't even be that expensive. You basically need to rent a floor of an office building and buy lots of cigarettes.

The actors are probably expensive now that everyone thinks they're amazing.

(Original post by Christien)
And Mad Men can't even be that expensive. You basically need to rent a floor of an office building and buy lots of cigarettes.

I disagree, Mad Men has a pretty lavish period setting and that setting is probably it's main identity. Even though it's not that flashy I bet the level of attention to detail that they have costs a significant amount.

I disagree, Mad Men has a pretty lavish period setting and that setting is probably it's main identity. Even though it's not that flashy I bet the level of attention to detail that they have costs a significant amount.

I know it's not solely office buildings and cigarettes. But at 2.4 million dollars an episode, it's significantly cheaper to make in terms of production costs than Breaking Bad (which is contemporary and costs 3.2) and The Walking Dead (which does the whole mindless zombies roaming an urban wasteland thing at a budget of around 3.4).

Having said that, did some googling, and Matthew Weiner is making 10 million dollars for the next 13 episodes. On top of actor salaries (like Colonel mentioned) and production costs...yeah, that's a lot. Seems AMC aren't really stingy, Matthew Weiner just really likes money. Guess I was wrong about that.

(Original post by Christien)
AMC have become incredibly stingy of late. Walking Dead got huge budget cuts and the negotiations for Mad Men became so protracted that it missed an entire year of production (). And Mad Men can't even be that expensive. You basically need to rent a floor of an office building and buy lots of cigarettes.